Sunday, December 13, 2009

This is NOT a good sign of the times...


"The BoarsHead Theater is canceling the remainder of its 2009-10 performance season because it has run out of money.

The professional theater in Lansing had shut down last month in a bid to save $77,000 between early November and late January. It had planned to reopen early next year with a performance in January, but expected gifts from corporate donors failed to materialize." Read more at The Lansing State Journal Online
This is bad news friends...
If our economic situation doesn't improve soon, we are going to have some serious losses to deal with. The first thing that usually goes, especially when it comes to government funding and donations...are the fine arts. As a music teacher, this troubles me greatly because fine arts do so much to enhance lives, share ideas, change viewpoints, challenge authority, educate, inspire, and entertain. To lose them is to lose a part of ourselves that cannot be replaced with anything else.
As if this weren't bad enough...
Michigan public schools are being forced to make drastic changes in order to survive. (Budget cuts, layoffs, etc.)  And Universities are dropping entire programs! If there is one thing we need to keep funded it's schools, and yet with everything being so bad, schools are not getting what they need. This means that children are not getting the education that they need... and deserve.
Even worse...
"LANSING - The projections for 2010 are in and the funds needed to feed hungry people in the seven county mid-Michigan area are staggering. To continue to serve seniors, families and children the Mid-Michigan Food Bank needs to raise $2.8 million dollars. Up to 18,000 families, including a large number of children and seniors, will be turned away due to lack of food. The demand for food is such that the supplies at the Mid-Michigan Food Bank are depleted every 10 days." Read more at The Lansing State Journal Online
It just makes me wonder. Where are our priorities? We're worried about savings accounts and not being able to buy as many Christmas gifts this year (which are legitimate concerns, of course) but what's worse? Paying a bill late or having to shut down a school? Getting a gift card for your spouse instead of a new HDTV or knowing that 18,000 families will not have food this winter?
All I ask is this... since this is a season of giving, look around your community and see what you can do to help. Every little bit does something! Some ideas:
Donate canned goods to your local food bank
Make a monetary donation to a local fine arts organization
Send your child to school with extra supplies to donate to the classroom. (Pencils, pens, paper, tissue, hand sanitizer, etc.)
And open your mind and heart, and help those around you. If we all give a little, we all gain a lot more.
Peace and Love,
Meagan (PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian)

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